


Batzuku

by NoOneLeftStanding



Series: Batzuku: The Myth of Japans Spirit of Vengeance [2]
Category: Batman (Comics), 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), BAMF Alfred, BAMF Midoriya Izuku, Batcave, Gen, Mystery, Poor Midoriya Izuku, Quirkless Midoriya Izuku, Secret Identity, Story Arc, Vigilante Midoriya Izuku, Well Actually Rich Midoriya Izuku
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-02
Updated: 2017-11-16
Packaged: 2019-01-28 08:40:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 17,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12602680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NoOneLeftStanding/pseuds/NoOneLeftStanding
Summary: When he was four, Midoriya Izuku found out he was quirkless.At seven years old, he lost both his parents due to a criminal.At the age of ten, he decided he would help people, even if it wasn't as a hero.When he was fifteen, the Symbol of Peace, All Might died. Leading to a new age of heightened villainy.Now, as a twenty-five year old, Izuku put on the cowl, and began his work as the what would be known as the worlds greatest Vigilante and Detective.ORA continuation of the world in which Izuku becomes Batman.





	1. Welcome to Tokyo

**Author's Note:**

> If you want to learn about the origins of this Izuku, check out "The Rabbit of the Night".

In this world 90% of the population has quirks, superpowers of all shapes and sizes. It is a world filled with the fantastical, where heroes and villains duke it out daily. It is a world where there used to be a balance that favored the innocent and the lawful. Now, when the Symbol of Peace had died and left the spot that had held their society aloft for years, vacant. Villains were confident and ran rampant in numbers that heroes had trouble dealing with. A new Symbol of Peace was working hard to fix it, but the world was a large place, and he could only be in so many places at once. This left Tokyo to fend for itself as larger incidents occurred throughout the planet. Japan needed something new to give it's people hope, or maybe it's villains fear. This is the story of the vigilante that would rise to the occasion.

* * *

Alarm bells rang out, piercing through the night sky. Four figures dashed dashed out of the rear of the clothing store they had just robbed. Each carrying a black duffel bag, each preparing for their part of the plan. One man gave his duffel to the woman, and took off his balaclava, whispering one last set of words to his partners in crime. The man took a syringe and ran back into the store the group had just robbed. The three remaining robbers went to make their escape. Each movement was calculated, definite, and most of all swift. There was only a brief time frame between the alarm being set off and both the police, and more importantly heroes arriving.

The trio weaved between alleyways, avoiding the police cruisers converging on the clothing store with ease in the pitch black darkness. Eventually the robbers stopped, breathless, now around a mile away. Each took off their masks and looked at one another, tired but ecstatic. They had done it! Again! A man with usb drives for fingers made one final exhale before asking a question.

“Why. Why, do we keep running away from these things, the joes we leave behind are keeping the hero's busy and no one suspects a thing.”

The woman whose finger nails glinted in the moonlight gave back a sharp response, “Idiot, it’s precisely because we run like this that nobody has figured us out yet. If the police saw a group of the same three people at four different robberies they would start getting suspicious.”

The other man, a person as resilient to fatigue as the stones that made his hair were to damage, carried on the lecture, “ All it takes would be one search of our belongings for the police to discover the money. You being a puny guy does not excuse you from working as hard as the rest of us. Remember you're only a part of this because your quirk lets you disable security systems.”

“Sorry, sorry.” A single breath pause, “Same time next week?”

The woman, the brains of the operation, responded, “No, wait an extra three days, don’t want the cops to catch on. Also in the meantime go to a gym, wouldn’t want our skeleton key to get caught because he couldn’t run fast enough.”

The three started to go their separate ways when a shadow descended on the group. It moved as silent as an owl through the sky. Landing behind the proverbial skeleton key no one noticed the figure move into strangle the thief. The man squirmed as his air was cut off, only a lucky kick of a nearby trashcan alerting the others to his plight. Both turned around, startled, now seeing an unconscious body dropped to the ground next to some...thing. Even against the lights of the street behind it, the being seemed to fade in and out of existence, becoming one with the darkness behind it.

The man with stone for hair moved first. His hair had always protected him from physical harm, so he assumed now would be no different. However the straightforward assault failed magnificently. One moment the being was there, and the next stone hair was flying through the air, directly at the wall next to his comrade in burglary. The woman had barely registered the exchange and was now fearful of what was coming for her, both the techy and the brawn of her operation were out of commision, the only sane option was to retreat. Sprinting away with terror creeping into her spine, the woman took one random turn after another, reasoning that if she didn’t know where she was going then IT wouldn’t know either.

One moment she was running and the next she was in front of a dead end. Shit. Looking around for an escape, and realising there was none, the woman turned to the entrance of her portion of the ally. If whatever it was, was after her then it would need to approach her. She had four years of martial arts training and a quirk that she had refined for both defense and offense. Whatever it was, the being would not take her out. 

Gazing upon the entrance, the woman almost missed the shadow fall upon her once again. She looked to the sky, seeing the shape of a bat. The rumors were true, some other criminals had been speaking of a new player in the area, something that was more brutal than any Pro Hero, and would appear out of nowhere. Cursing her luck she prepared for a fight, extending her Iron Nails the full inch that her quirk would allow. The bat like figure landed in front of her and suddenly lurched at her with its… wings? The woman reached out to claw at its wings, thinking she could give it a surprise, only for her hands to be entangled by some kind of cloth. She tried to shred it with her razor sharp fingernails, but to no avail.

She was quickly and roughly subdued on the ground, incapable of any meaningful resistance. Slowly the creature lowered it head down to her face with glowing white eyes, fear consumed her at the thought of what it might do. Although the rumors were scarce they always provided the gruesome details of broken bones or dislocated shoulders. Then it spoke,

“Where are you getting your drugs from? Answer me or I will break your left arm.” The voice was quiet, no one would be able to hear it over a running faucet. The voice cut through every emotional and logical barrier her mind had erected over the years. Every corner of her mind screamed for her to get out, to escape.It made her tremble in fear of what it might do to her. Somehow this entity knew about the use of quirk enhancing drugs, it was something the police hadn’t made public, and it still knew. The thing had grabbed her arm to prove his point. Fearing for her well being, the woman quickly answered his question.

“I-I don’t know there names, I swear. All I know is that each week I would drop off money under a green rock at the Shinteku Docks and the next day I would pick up the stuff. I would do it the night after the robberies to make sure that I got what I needed.”

“When the police find you, you will confess to your crimes, and you will tell them every detail of the robberies you planned out or else I will return.” The sentence was a statement of fact, acting as a decree from god. The woman simply nodded, fear choking her throat and preventing words. Satisfied by the response, the bat knocked out the woman and restrained her, putting in an anonymous call to the Tokyo Police and launching himself into the night. 

Now clear of any eavesdroppers, the being, Batman, spoke into his earpiece.

“Base Cave, prepare me the fastest route to the Shinteku docks and cross reference with police database to detect if they are already aware of the situation.”

“Very well Master Izuku.”

“Base Cave, I insist that you use the proper code names that we have discussed previously.”

“Understood Master Bat, Base Cave out.”

Sighing, Izuku looked over the city skyline, gliding as he listened and waited. Ten different sensors in his suit were attuned to detecting various signals of distress, ranging from alarms and screams to hormones and erratic movements. There were only three more hours of time left for him to patrol the city and in all likelihood he would not have time to look at the docks tonight. Still, there would probably be a few more incidents he could help resolve.

Two minutes later he detected irregular breathing and a faint yell for help, thinking back to Hero patrol patterns he knew that there wasn’t a hero in the region, so he flew down. Right in front of a closed down market, there was a woman with some kind of bird mutant quirk being attacked by a man. From here he couldn’t tell what kind of quirk the man had, guess he’d be going in as blind as a bat.

Rocketing down, Izuku started out the encounter by grabbing hold of the mans right arm, using it to control his movements and flip him over Izuku’s shoulder. The man landed with a satisfying thunk, only to rocket back up. Great he had a fire quirk. Fire quirks were a tricky beast because when quirks were gaining popularity, they were some of the hottest traits out there, literally. This resulted in the immense variety of them in terms of both strength and general attributes. Most of them weren’t strong like that of Endeavor or Winter Burn, but the uniqueness of them could give him a problem in these encounters.

The man threw a punch at Izuku that was easily deflected by his arm. When this occurred instead of pulling back to defend himself the man activated his quirk, sending out a blast of heat thats temperature had to measure in the hundreds out in all directions. The blast found its way between a crease in Izuku’s armor, causing a second degree burn upon contact. Ignoring the pain, Izuku decided whatever the man's quirk was, it was dangerous enough to warrant special measures. Taking a leap back Izuku reached for his belt.

The man looked at him arrogantly, “Hey freak, think you’re some sort of hero, huh. Well let me tell ya, not even a Pro cou-”

The fire user was shut up by a stiffening of some material around his body. It covered him in its entirety. When did it get there. Thinking back he realised the guy in the suit had thrown some capsule at him. Returning his gaze to the area around him, he discovered that whoever it was that captured him was gone, and that he could hear sirens in the distance, approaching.

On a nearby rooftop, Izuku took a look at his wound. It wouldn’t cause any severe long term damage, but if someone landed a good hit on that part of his arm tonight, then he might be in trouble. Making his decision, Izuku started heading back to his base of operations. The Bat Cave, or least that was what Alfred called it. Activating the pneumatic systems in his boots, Izuku was launched off the building he had been perched on. He then shot out the grappling hook that was located in his right arm, pulling him higher and faster into the night sky. The next step, and the one that he found enjoyable was spreading out his cape and gliding. He made a mental note to restock the expanding fire suppressant foam.

Ten minutes later he let himself drop down to the ground, approaching a manhole cover. Entering it once he was sure no one was around, Izuku walked to a nearby side door that was locked. Starting out with giving a signal from his belt, Izuku begins the two minute procedure of opening the door. A biometrics scanner, a passcode and three different manual locks later, Izuku gets in. 

Attaching himself to the wire that was strung from his current position and lead to the Cave, Izuku reflected on how lucky he had been with the discovery of this subway system. When constructing the Midoriya Tower in Japan six years ago it had been discovered that a derelict and forgotten subway system from before quirks had its central hub right under the foundation. Seeing an opportunity, Izuku had workers build a floor for the building down there. Then thanks to a few independent contractors and an invention from Hatsume, the entire floor was condemned due to “a lack of structural integrity”. He had the floor closed off completely, publicly lamenting the loss of millions of dollars of equipment, but privately ecstatic that he now had a base of operations that no one else knew about. Plus the subway system would be able to act as a means of traversing the city quickly and without any hero or villain catching on. Thanks to his and Hatsume’s effort he could appear almost anywhere in Tokyo within twenty minutes.

Finally arriving, he quickly took off his suit, and laid down on the medical table. Alfred arrived within a minute and started to asses the damages, using his quirk to instantly ascertain the extent to which medical supplies would be needed. Picking up the burn kit, the butler got t work dressing the severe second degree burns.

In a calm but tired voice Alfred began, “Sir, do you understand the severity of this injury? Despite your unusual ability to ignore pain, this will hinder you and your movements for another fifteen hours or so. In addition, the swelling and redness will not go unnoticed by the guests at your party tonight.”

“Don’t worry about it Alfred, I have a plan.”

“You alway do sir.”

* * *

Tsukauchi woke up to a ringing phone, with as little effort as he could muster he looked at the caller ID, great it was the Commissioner. He checked the time, it was 5:30 in the morning what did the chief want.

“This is Chief Inspector Tsukauchi, Commissioner. To what do I owe the pleasure sir.” How odd that title still felt on his tongue. Four years ago he had been promoted, but he still wasn’t used to the position in any way. It meant he was in charge of plenty of new responsibilities that he wasn’t to keen on. However if the force thought he was the best man for the job then he would put his back into it.

“The Drugged Robbery cases have been linked and are in the process of being closed. In addition we are recreating the anti-vigilante task force with you at the head. Report for duty within the hour.”

The phone hangs up abruptly and Tsukauchi is left to wonder why this had to happen on his day off. Still absurdly tired, he went and got ready for the day while mentally reviewing the Drug Robberies case. Over the past four weeks there had been three, and now he presumed four, robberies at minor stores. What made them unique was the use of an illegal quirk enhancing drug at each of them. Heroes were needed to handle the fight and there was always major collateral damage. What was weird was that there hadn’t been a single successful robbery, and that all of the stores money was completely destroyed.

However the more pressing issue at this point was the reinstatement of the anti-vigilante task force. It had been over a decade since it was last used, mostly to deal with trying to take in Knuckle Duster and his buddies. They had ended up just stopping in their activities one month, and as a result he force had been disbanded. The question was why was the group being recreated now. The media hadn’t been reporting on any new high profile vigilantes. Plus the only people that were brave enough to become vigilantes nowadays ended up severely injured in police custody or dead within a week. The only option was that either a previously retired one had come out of hiding, or this one had done something to provoke the polices attention in one night. Maybe it had something to do with the drugged robberies cases.

He grabbed his trench coat, it was a dusty old thing. He had gotten it as a gift when he had solved his first case as a detective. The thing had been shiny and new at the time, rain slid off of it without a chill passing through him. Since then it had gone through the wringer. Countless raids had made so many holes that he wasn’t which material it was made of more, the original fabric or the new patches. At this point he only wore it because everyone saw it as a symbol to recognize him. His quirk went off as he realised he was lying to himself, he also thought it looked cool. Dam his quirk, it prevented him from lying to himself to any large degree.

Arriving at the precinct Tsukauchi said hello to Sergeant Shinsou. The guy was only twenty five, but was moving through the ranks quickly. Upon exiting U.A. he had gotten his provisional licence, but instead of working to be a sidekick, he had enrolled in the police academy. Since then the Brainwash quirk user had brought in a record number of accurate confessions to the precinct. Even more than Tsukauchi’s own “Lie Detector” quirk had. Plus thanks to his acquiring of a hero license he was regularly ensuring that villain confrontations were solved quickly and peacefully. The thing that Tsukauchi was impressed by was the guys unrelenting look of insomnia. Despite the fact he had a medically assisted eight hours of sleep each night, the guy still had bags under his eyes that could probably carry his daily lunch.

Tsukauchi then made his way into the second briefing room, ready to learn about whatever it is that would make the commissioner call on him. The room was darkened with the commissioner sitting next to a podium, looking up. His face betrayed the gravity of the situation. In his books any vigilante was a public menace, that if allowed could gain the backing of the public, and possibly some police. This became a problem when the time to arrest them came, and had in the past resulted in multiple vigilantes getting away. Both he and the commissioner agreed that these individuals needed to be brought in as quickly as possible.

“I apologize for calling you in, but I wanted to get started as soon as possible. Stay with me as I explain the case, it's a big one.”

Three hours later Tsukauchi stands in front of his initial task force, five people who had no idea what was happening and he would need to bring up to speed in just half an hour. Standing on the podium the Chief Inspector brought up his first slide.

“Okay everyone, we don’t have much time, so I’m going to rocket through this. First, you five have been chosen to be part of the core team of investigators for the Anti-Vigilante Task Force, our current objective is to catch the newest vigilante that has appeared. You have been chosen based upon two factors, first your general reputation within the force and second based upon your likelihood of being the target.

The vigilante in question has only been seen by the criminals that it has apprehended, so all descriptions are up for revision.” Tsuchauki brings up a slide with three different figures on it. ”Figure A describes the most common description. It is a being that is almost entirely a bat with the exception of its hands and face, both taking on more human like appearances. Needless to say, it is unlikely that the suspect is a literal giant bat. Though I will admit it is not impossible.  
Figure B shows an individual with different mutation quirks creating the appearance of a bat. All victims indicate that the vigilante flies down on them from above, this means that it is likely that the individual has wings of som variety. In addition the overall stature has been described as inhuman, increasing the chance that this person has a mutation quirk.

Figure C is simply a man in a costume that makes them look like a bat. Due to the feats performed by this vigilante if they do not have a mutation quirk, then they probably have an emitter quirk of some kind, being used to supplement their fighting ability.

Until last night, our precinct was only vaguely aware of this criminals presence. In the past five weeks we have found more criminals caught and reported by anonymous tips then the last sixth months combine. Each of its victims suffer from broken bones or concussions. They also report feeling immense amounts of fear at its approach. Last night everything changed when we caught three robbers who quickly confessed to being the masterminds behind the Drugged Robberies Cases, presenting hundreds of thousands of Yen to us in duffel bags. They told us of their supplier and the vigilante at this point as well.

As the first step in our investigation we will work to clear all officers of potential guilt. This is being done to the seemingly intimate knowledge of hero patrols and police procedures. Topped by the individuals supposed fighting ability. Any Questions?”

One officer, someone with a Rhino mutation asked a question, “ Sir, I know we need to take this guy in, but why are you referencing the criminals it brings down as ‘victims’?”

“Officer Naoaki, although these people may be criminals, they are still people. So when an illegal act of violence is used against them they also become victims. The law is in place to ensure our society runs smoothly, we can not make any exceptions to it. Understood.”

“Yes Sir!.”

Officer Sansa asked the only other question, “Sir, Why aren’t any heroes being called in on this?”

“Very simply, they are spread thin as is and unless we have something concrete so that they can put their quirks to use, they won’t be helping us.”

“ I expect each of you to bring me an independent list of those individuals you believe are most likely to be the vigilante from within the police force. Further details on the case have been delivered to your desk. This investigation is currently being kept under wraps to keep the vigilante from going into hiding. The reports are due to my desk at seven am tomorrow morning.

I am leaving Officer Sansa in charge of communication for tonight, as I have an event to attend to.”

The officers nodded and scattered, wanting to finish their project with time to sleep. The task was going to be a difficult one. They would each need to independently vet each and every officer in the Tokyo Precinct, and that meant hundreds of people. Some would be easy to cross out, but others would be difficult. 

Tsukauchi himself left relatively quickly after that, it was his day off after all. He went home and started to get ready for the fundraiser tonight. He really was looking forward to the event since it was going to be a great opportunity to get funds for the police and hero. Looking at himself in the mirror, he was happy that he had been chosen to attend this one in particular. Izuku Midoria was hosting it after having been gone from Japan for the last six years, and he hadn’t had a chance to talk with the man in a while. His sister wanted him to interview the billionaire, but he decided against it, knowing about the boy's true awkwardness.

* * *

“Thank you everyone for coming tonight, I may have been gone for the six years but I intend to make up for lost time. That is why tonight I hope all of you, the heroes and the financiers, can come together to ensure funding for the protection of not just Tokyo, but all of Japan.”

Stepping back down from the table he had been standing on, Izuku retreated to one corner of the room, anyone that wanted to see him would know where to look. Speaking of which, Tsukauchi was approaching.

“Ah, hello Chief Commissioner Tsukauchi, to what do I owe the pleasure.”

“Midoriya, you can drop the formalities. I just want to see how you're doing.”  
Izuku indulged the former detective, “Thanks, I’m doing fine. Alfreds taken good care of me, and I can’t complain.” Letting a slight tear fall down his cheek, the twenty five year old continued, “Sometimes I find myself wishing they were around to see what I’m doing with the company. But not all wishes can be granted.” Ending on that somber tone, Tsukauchi simply nodded and left.

Izuku gazed upon the array of people he had gathered. During his time in America and Europe he had learned the vast amount of potential opportunities a gathering such as this could offer. In this event he could learn about the state of Japan in a more intimate way then the news would ever allow. Plus it gave him an opportunity to learn about the current Pro Heroes and what danger they might present to him in his nightlife endeavors. Lost in thought, as he allowed himself to be in his current persona, he didn’t notice Yaoyorozu and a girl with a brown bob cut walk up to him.

“Midoriya, yoohoo. Midoriya!”

Realising that people were trying to talk to him, Izuku looked at the people in front of him finally. One was Yaoyorozu, and the other was a girl he had never met before. He gave a quick look at Yaoyorozu, as if to ask what was happening.

“It’s fine Midoriya she's a friend, you don’t need to act.”

“O-Okay. Uh, Hi. I’m Midoroiya Izuku, bit I-I guess you already know that. Yeah”

The girl smiled at him, not skipping a beat at his obvious discomfort at talking to a stranger, before introducing herself, “Hello, I’m Uraraka Ochako, and I just wanted to say thank you. My family's really grateful for all you have done for us!”

With real surprise, though still fake nervousness Izuku continued the conversation, “I-I’m sorry but what are you talking about?”

Giving herself an overenthusiastic slap on the forehead, Uraraka explained, “Duh, you probably wouldn’t remember but my parents were one of the construction companies you hired to help build the building we’re standing in. They had been in an even rougher spot than usual and since then they and I haven’t had to worry about money nearly as much. So when I heard Yaoyorozu knew you I just wanted to take the opportunity to thank you.” Finally taking a breath after her tirade, the girl waited for a response.

Izuku finally remembered what she was talking about. When he had been setting up the contracts for building Midoriya Tower Japan, he had contracted about twenty different family run construction companies. He had done this primarily to help the businesses, but the idea that no one else would know the exact layout of the building or that it was a good way to inspire faith in the company were definitely good perks.

Izuku gave a small laugh, “Yeah, I remember now. Your Welcome?”

Not knowing what to talk about, the three just stood awkwardly eyeing each other, until Yaoyorozu decided to make her intentions known. 

“Well, I’m going to leave you two here while I go find some other people to join us. Ok?”

“Wait, what?

“Midoriya, you need to get some more friends. As it stands I am your only friend, and I will not let that stand. You are a good person and should have more of them.”

“What are you talking about, I have plenty of friends. And even if I didn’t, I am perfectly content with my life as is.”

“Name one friend.” 

“Hatsume.

“That doesn’t count, she works for you.”

“Uuhhhh, Alfred?”

“He’s both your butler and surrogate father, absolutely not. The fact that you’re including him in this just proves my point. I will find at least two more people for you to be friends with by the end of this party. Understood.”

“Y-yes Ma’am.”

Yaoyorozu then disappeared into the throng of guests, looking for other people she knew to introduce him to. Uraraka, not liking the silence tried to start up the conversation.

“Ssoooooo, how long have you known Yaoyorozu, it seems like you two are pretty good friends.”

Realising that this was the first time he was publicly speaking with a girl besides Yaoyorozu, alone, Izuku thought it was the appropriate time to act freaked out. Giving himself a slight nervous blush

“W-well we met at a party like this one when we were thirteen if I-I remember correctly.”

“Oh, so you're pretty much her oldest friend, cool! I got to know her at U.A., we were in class 1-A together, and she was always acting like our mom. Kind of like how she is for you right now. Speaking of which, you stutter a lot, yet I’ve seen you at a few different press conferences acting all confident. If you don’t mind my prying, why the difference.”

“Heh, you see I have plenty of experience talking business, but not so much when it comes to standard social interaction.”

“That makes sense! Yaoyorozu had told me to be forward when talking to you because otherwise you would clam up, and now I get why. Oh, I just noticed, what's wrong with your wrist?” 

“Oh yeah. Sometimes I try cooking and this morning I kind of spilled a cup of boiling water on myself.

“Thats horrible! Well I mean the fact that you cook is great. It’s horrible you got injured that is.” A beep went off, “Oops, that's work, looks like I have to get going. See you around Midoriya.”

After Uraraka leaves, Izuku wait in his corner for a few more minutes, knowing it would be suspicious if he left the gathering to quickly. Reflecting on the encounter, he realised it had been mildly pleasant. Uraraka’s bubbly and humorous demeanor were nice changes from Yaoyorozu’s stoic happiness. Plus how she was happy to fill up the conversation was great for him as it prevented him from needing to figure out how to properly act.

Ten minutes later, Yaoyorozu returned, surprisingly brining no one with her.

“Sorry, but it turns out everyone I wanted you to talk has been called out of the party for one reason or another, including myself. Don’t fret because a few of them have already agreed to going out to lunch so that you can meet them.”

“Are you sure about that. They must be busy.”

“Nonsense, they would be happy to meet you. Anyways, I need to bolt now. I’ll text you to set up the time later.”

With all of the people who would take note of his abscence gone now Izuku took his leave. If every hero at his party was called in for something, that meant there was a major bust going down. With a large number of heros, and presumably a large portion of the police occupied, than this night would need the Batman more than usual. Slipping into a service elevator, he pressed one, and as the thing went down, he climbed out of the service hatch. Once it reached the bottom, Izuku opened up a secret door opposite the regular elevator entrances using a hand scanner. Making his way down the stairwell, Izuku took off his business suit as efficiently as possible.

Entering the cave, he saw Hatsume tinkering with some sort of, ball? Ignoring her presence he beelined for the suit. As he put on the suit, he realised that whatever it was that called them in, it would have to have been a surprise, or they would not have shown up at his party at all. Bringing up the news, he looked for what incident might have caused the alert. That's when he found out that there was a sudden large scale attack on Musutafu by individuals that apparently were under the influence of quirk enhancing drugs. If this was where the heroes were going, then he would go to the next logical place, the supposed distribution location. 

Having gathered his gear, Izuku went over his mental checklist one last time: Batarangs-Check, Variety Batarangs-Check, Pressured air canisters- Check, general purpose utility belt- Check, and finally glove compartment tools-Check. Heading over to the central pillar, he steeled himself for the first use of the largest contraption that Hatsume had built for him.

“Hatsume, prepare the magnetic launcher.”

“ Yaaay. In a hurry today are we. Give me just a minute. Also while your out, don’t let anyone hurt my babies!”

The tinkerer quickly got to work calibrating the machine. Fifty nine seconds later, she called out the all clear, and Batman got into the now open corridor. Directly above him was the night sky. Giving the ready signal, Hatsume pressed the final button and Izuku was pulled up by magnets faster and faster. He zoomed higher and higher, the cool night air rushing past. Until finally, he was out, three hundred meters above the city skyline, and preparing to head towards the docks. Without pause, the Batman flew. He flew towards the darkness of the sea, not knowing this would be the start of his first big case.


	2. The Mad Hatter

Batman surveyed the Shinteku Docks from atop a building across the street. The green rock the woman had mentioned was easily visible, and so he waited for someone to stop by. The location of the point at the docks suggested that the quirk enhancement drugs might just be smuggled in from other nations. However, there was no evidence of that one way or another, and thus he was going to stakeout the location. Once someone checked the rock he would follow them, to what would presumably be the base of operations. 

Really it was lucky for him that the attack had occurred, without it the police could have had the manpower to stakeout the location themselves and thus hinder his actions. He appreciated what the police did, but they would be a liability in both a fight, and any subsequent interrogation. Organized crime was the reason behind the world's problems at this point, and the only way to deal with it was to be swift and employ shock and awe tactics. The important thing to find out tonight to him was if this drug ring was a part of a larger organization or if it was independent. The actions the drugs had been used in suggested that they had been only testing out the product to this point. This implied that a more dangerous end goal was at play, one that could mean large scale damage to the civilian population.

At 11:30 pm, a man approached the green rock, and subsequently left. The only indication that they might be of the criminal persuasion was the slight bulge in his jacket that indicated some kind of weapon. Batman took to the sky, giving no indication of his pursuit of the criminal. The person acted to shake off a tail, as if they knew something was wrong, but from his eagle eyed view, Izuku would not lose the man. After fifteen minutes of tailing the man, the criminal arrived at his destination. 

It was, from every way you could see it, an abandoned warehouse. The building had no visible lights on, the very walls that supported it were cracking. Every building around it looked empty as well. Whoever had picked this location had wanted isolation. Izuku inferred that this meant whatever they were doing in there, it was either loud or visually obvious that it was illegal. Possibly both. Fortunately the high up broken windows provided him an easy opportunity to enter the building unnoticed. Using his grappling hook in his gloves, Batman zipped into the building. From the rafters he took a moment to gather information on the situation.

There in front of him was a chemical manufacturing operation for the production of the quirk enhancing drugs. Most of the equipment and people were under the cover of a canopy that was probably being used to create a semblance of a clean room. Turning on his thermal vision, Batman took stock of the number of potential combatants. There were nine people present, one of which had a mutation quirk that made them have a turtle shell. After an hour of stalking the scene he had a vague idea of each of their quirks thanks to conversations and random uses of them. The villains were laid back, not thinking that anything would happen tonight. Izuku decided it was time to prove them wrong.

Initiating the encounter, the vigilante threw a multitude of Batarangs out, destroying or cutting off power to the various industrial lights that were giving the criminals vision. One of them yelled out that they would check on the breakers, presuming that they were the problem despite the fact much of the lab electronics were still working, idiots. Once the man who Batman had heard possessed an electricity based quirk was alone, he flew down from his position overlooking the warehouse and simply used a bit of chloroform to knock him out. Eight remaining. Izuku went to sneak up on the guard of the building next, the turtle man. Although the shell did provide impressive defense abilities, Izuku estimating it to have the strength of iron based on thickness and composition, it also created a large blind spot in the man's peripheral vision. Using that disadvantage, Batman snuck up on, and knocked out the man with a turtle shell. Seven remaining.

This next part would be difficult. The rest were located together in the center of the room and weren’t budging. Only three of them had quirks that would hinder his attack, but if he wasn’t careful any of those three could take him down. The other complicating factor was that they were aware of his presence at this point, having found flashlights and discovered the unconscious bodies. Mental note, hide the bodies in the future. Deciding to try out a new technique, Izuku gt ready to scare the criminals. First, he threw a batarang at the head of one man whose back was to his position, knocking him out. The mark on the man's neck would get the rest to cover their necks, preventing the attack from working effectively again, but it was enough. Now the remaining individuals had an inkling of fear, just enough to make them clumsy and hesitant in their movements. 

In the darkness, the Batman made his move to incapacitate the remaining individuals. First he launched a batarang to the opposite end of the room, directing the group's attention away him. He then rolled into the makeshift clean room. A man who possessed a quirk that let him strengthen other people's skin was his first target. Izuku didn’t know what the man's limits were, but if left alone the quirk could make the rest of the fight difficult. Quickly suffocating the man, Izuke went towards the next threat. Six remaining. This person could only make unlocked doors open and close, not to important, but they were said to have some combat training so he couldn’t just dismiss him. In the attempt to grapple the man, the others were alerted and moved in to attack him. 

Changing from attempting to grab his initial target, he used the previous momentum to flip the criminal into others. He was launched into a group of three, leaving two others still charging at Batman. One of them was wearing a lab coat of some kind, taking advantage of that Batman fired his grappling hook and had it latch onto the coat. Using this he tripped the lab coat wearer into the man running beside him. Using this opportunity, Batman put those two out of commision, by breaking their arms and warning that more would come if they didn’t stay down.

The remaining four had composed themselves and were returning to fight, and while he could defeat them, there was a risk of injury. Instead he threw down a smoke pellet and used the ensuing confusion to strike. Turning his thermal vision on, the clear vision allowed him to knock the breath out of the fighter. Giving him time to kick, flip and trip the other three individuals. With each of them now unconscious through various means. The last man, who had at this point been beaten up just by acts of postponing a fight, began to run away. Not wanting a potential lead to escape, the vigilante captured him with a thrown Bat-Bolas, tying up the fleeing thugs feet. 

With all threats neutralized, Batman got to work collecting samples and taking pictures of the set up. He made sure to leave enough behind for the police to use. What interested him was that there was seemingly two different drugs in production at the facility. Creating a single semi-effective drug in mass would be optimal if money was the goal, so the objective of this site was in all probability not just gaining money. A glass bottle rattled, alerting the bat to the presence of movement. Looking at the entrances he saw that no doors were opened, yet something was approaching him that his thermal vision couldn’t detect. Just as he switched to general nightvision, a force reminisce of a freight train hit him, sending him flying back into a wall.

Climbing out of the hole in the wall that had been just created, Izuku uses his boots to jump up to the scaffolding Looking down he can see some sort of creature wandering around on the ground with some kind of hat on its head. It had scale like skin that Batman presumed was resistant to damage. The creature was humanoid but around seven feet tall, with muscles the size of his hea. All totaled, a direct hand to hand fight probably wouldn’t be the best idea. When he knocked on the metal he was standing on a little too hard, a soft ting was made, at which point the reptilian creature threw a piece of equipment directly at him, shattering on the place he had now just moved from. This indicated heightened senses. The safest and most surefire way to take this creature out at this point would be to deliver an electric shock to paralyze it. What he wasn’t sure of was how to deliver an electric shock substantial enough to knock out the behemoth.

Remembering that the electricity in the room was still on, he glided down to the circuit breaker, turning everything on and temporarily blinding the creature that he now saw looked like a snake or crocodile. Despite this blindness the monster rushed at him, inadvertently crashing into the electrical box and rendering himself unconscious. Izuku rounded up all of the criminals at this point, knowing that his time until someone reported the commotion was limited.

Getting in front of the man he had tied up, Izuku started his interrogation. He grabbed the man's right arm, holding it in such a way that he could easily break the limb. Izuku knew he wanted to get as much of the tory as possible, so he started from the beginning.

“What is the purpose of this place. Tell me or Else.”

“I’m not telling you man, the boss hired me because I’m tight lipped.”

Laughing internally at what the man just gave up, Izuku continued, “ Who is your Boss then? You will tell me.” Venom penetrated Izukus voice as he waited for the response.

With a trembling voice the man replied, “No.” A scream pierced the air as he finished the word. 

“Next time it will be the other arm.”

“Okay, okay, he told us that he's the Mad Hatter, like from Alice in Wonderland. Yeah like that. He gave us this equipment and told us to distribute it but we weren’t told anything else. You have to believe me.”

The tears in the man's eyes helped to show his honesty. Releasing him back to the ground, Batman could hear the pounding of boots that indicated the police were approaching. He quickly went over to the large creature and took a sample of its DNA. 

“Police. Open up!”

Before he left though, the still conscious man had a single question, “What are you?”

Not having much time, Batman simply replied, “I am vengeance.” The police broke down the door a second later to discover the unconscious men and a monster, but no Batman.

Back in the sewer systems, Batman was contacting Hatsume, “Base Cave prepare analysis equipment, I will be there in approximately eight minutes.”

“Roogeer that Batman, i’ll get the babies ready for their first day at work. Anything in particular you need?”

“Yeah, get the chemical and DNA analysis systems prepared. Also initiate a quirk search for individuals that have mutation quirks that cause a resemblance to snakes or crocodiles. Prioritize those that are either missing or have a history of criminality.”

“Oky dokey, see you then. Also I need you to test out a new capture device for me the next time you go out.”

“Why not have one of your lab assistants test this one?”

“Well, this baby might just hug a little too tight.”

“Meaning it might just break a person's wrists when used.”

“Fine. Bat Out”

A few minutes later, Izuku arrived in the Bat Cave. First he deposited the two samples of the drugs into the analysis chambers, and took a piece of the creature's blood into the sequencer. The thing had a level of quirk that was usually indicative of high training or of drug use, he could find out be checking the DNA. Hatsume reported that the computer was still compiling since there were secondary aspects of the quirk that were being taken into account as potential “base” quirk. While waiting for the results to come back Izuku checked on the hero fight that had occurred along with the accompanying police report.

The instigating factor was the use of an aerosolized quirk enhancement drug that reduced a person's inhibitions to zero and heightened their fight or flight reflexes. This resulted in a massive number of people losing control of themselves while in the possession of middle tier quirk powers. From the report it was estimated that around one hundred and twenty seven people were affected by the gas. The news was reporting that aside from them, around forty people had died, leaving approximately nine hundred either injured or in critical condition. The news was declaring it the disaster of the month with three of the reporting heroes being injured to the extent where medical attention was needed.

Looking at the current police report, the enhancer that was being used produced short to mid term psychological effects that hampered thinking. In addition it was suspected that it was a variation of another drug that would produce long term physical degradation and mental instability. Considering everything he had found, Izuku knew it was likely that the facility he had discovered earlier was linked to this. The person who ran it, the Mad Hatter, had probably been using it as a way to test various concoctions. The important question was if the drug that had been used at the attack was his end goal or just another test run. The other question was why did that mutation quirk user have a hat on his head. It wasn’t like it hid his identity or anything. 

Hatsume then called out to him, “Hey Izuku, I think you’ll want to check this out!”

Izuku rushed back to Hatsume, who had a smirk on her face. “So, you know how we had that deal where if I help ‘Batman’, then Izuku gives me something in return.”

Izuku immediately knew he would not like where this was going, “Yes, why are you bringing that up now?” 

“Well I really want my babies to get more exposure. I mean your company is great and all, but only sidekicks are using them right now, even the people I knew from 1-A and 1-B at U.A. have mostly forgotten me. Which I do not like. Ssoooo, I was thinking that if I gave you a little extra help on this problem, then you could maybe get Uraraka to try my babies out. She’s an up and coming major hero and I know my babies could get some great air time with her.”

“I know I’m going to regret this, but if you have some helpful insights then sure.”

“Great! I have all the data lined up, I will educate you. First the two types of drugs you found correspond to one, the drugged robberies and two to the event that occurred just tonight. The equipment they had was mostly old stuff from what your pictures showed, but the machine for aerosolization was new. They probably were intending to make a batch of the drug. Now onto the part that I know you’ll find interesting.

First the crocodile guys blood works. Before you ask, yes it's a crocodile, I zoomed in on the pictures with my quirk and cross referenced reptile images and the scales correspond to those of a crocodile. From what I could tell there were Quirk Growth Hormones in large quantities throughout his blood stream. This mixed with the second variation of the quirk enhancing drug explains his immense power but relatively low level mental state. 

The thing that stumped me was finding the guy's identity. Once I added in the crocodile angle there was a list of about three hundred different people that this guy could be, but knowing this wouldn’t satisfy you I went through the trouble of checking on the actual feasibility of any of them being the dude. The issue came up when I was to cross out every single one of these people. They were all either accounted for or to old to be active like this guy.

Now before you start theorycrafting I have a bit of side info for you. Apparently the police have been looking for a villain that fits our villains description. He has been know to swim into highly secure chemical facilities. If caught he bites off the torso of the guards in his way. In addition he is always seen wearing some kind of hat.”

Hatsume looked at him expectantly, she really wanted that contract with the Hero Uravity. For his part Izuku looked at the data for a few more moments before speaking.

“I’m going to explain what you missed in a moment but before that please expand the search to those who have legally died but a body was never identified.”

Hatsume didn’t question the seemingly absurd premise and got to work, Izuku describing his thought process as she did.

“The most blaring omission, though one that makes sense from your lack of biology knowledge is about both the QGH and another indicator that you missed. First the QGH must be administered to a person starting in puberty or its effects won’t even begin to work. This means the crocodile has to have been associated with criminal activities since before they were nineteen. The other important signal was the presence of certain chemicals in higher proportions than normal. I presume you dismissed this as a part of his quirk, but in fact they indicate a prolonged exposure to sedatives. Which if you look closely at his left hand, under the fingernail, you can see a point of penetration. Why this injection site is being hidden I don’t know, but it is. This indicates that at a young age this person was using the QGH and that for some amount of time they have been restrained by another party. My theory is that this person was taken as a teenager and has been since used both as a guinea pig and as the muscle for the person referred to as the Mad Hatter.

I am having you check the database of the dead without bodies because anyone that has been missing for more than five years can be legally denoted as dead.” 

Looking back at Hatsume, her face was in a state of shock while looking at the screen, as if she had seen a ghost. On the computer monitor there was the image of a single person remaining. Knowing Hatsume she had been adding limiting criteria to the computer the entire time she was talking. Resulting in the search only yielding this single result. Izuku could only vaguely remember the face, he knew that it had been seen in relation to a major event and that he should remember, but he couldn’t. As he retrieved his memories, Hatsume ran DNA comparison. It would take a few minutes but show them the likelihood of this being their guy. Izuku noticed the girl's eyes were zoomed in on the face of the boy Trying to knock her out of it Izuku decided it was time to interrupt her gawking session.

“Hatsume, do you remeber this guy?”

It took a shaking of her shoulder before a response came, “Y-Yeah, this was Kodairu Jones. He was the student that died at U.A. during the USJ attack. No body had been found, but there was so much of his blood on the ground that everyone had presumed he was dead.”

Oh. That's where he remembered the guy from. His dad had been an english businessman living in Japan. After Izukus declaration of faith in U.A the man had pulled his support from MIdoriya Industries. The results for the DNA came back a minute later, it wasn’t exact due to the QGH presumably, but there was no doubt at this point. Kodairu was the villain he had been facing.

For whatever reason the aspiring hero was now being used as a tool of a villain ten years after his apparent death. A police report blared suddenly, the crocodile man had escaped from its transport vehicle and was now being pursued into the sewer systems. Now knowing about the abilities of the crocodile, Izuku had a feeling that they would lose him. However maybe if he could get to Jones before that happened he could place a tracker on the man. He went straight to the primary outgoing tunnel. Based on the speed at which the hero-in-training had supposedly moved in the water, and the factor by which his strength and speed had improved Izuku felt confident his predictions could get him ahead of the criminal victim. Five minutes later he was lying below the water level with an oxygen tank waiting. He had forgotten just how disgusting it felt to be in the waste of other people.

The crocodile nearly swam past him without being noticed, but Batman had laid sensor mines, and thus was ready. He shot a tracer directly at the back of the crocodile and then moved out as soon as possible. He didn’t want to be caught by the pursuing police after all. On the way back to the Cave he cursed his luck as he smelled himself. His suit required at least six hours to become properly cleaned, and if he didn’t get it clean then he wouldn’t be able to sneak up on any villain due to the smell.

Taking off his suit, Izuku sent a note to Alfred, asking for him to clean the suit. He didn’t know what his life would be like without Alfred. Actually he did, it would be a bad one, a very bad one. Before he left to sleep, Izuku told Hatsume he would get her a meeting with Uraraka if he could. Eliciting a slight smile from the pink haired girl, even after the previous revelations of the night.

* * *

Tsukauchi did not expect his first task this morning to be interrogating a criminal. He had been expecting to leisurely sit down and review the files his subordinates had provided him, but no. Instead this guy claimed to have seen the bat, and was a part of a major drug bust. This meant he couldn’t just leave the interrogation to either his squad or Shinso. Thanks to being the Chief Inspector he was the only one involved in both cases and thus the only one qualified to interrogate this man.

Taking a seat, he took his chance to observe the man in front of him. The criminal looked to be around twenty seven years old with a broad body built for combat. His right arm was in a cast and he had bruises over the entirety of his body, courtesy of the bat. The man's eyes shifted from one side to the other, as if he was nervous something was coming after him. The question was what. Well he wouldn’t be getting much more just from observing, it was time to start.

“Ehem.” The brown eyes focused on him, “I am Chief Inspector Tsukauchi and I will be in charge of your questioning today. I will first ask you about basic questions having to do with your identity, and then we will continue on to your supposed criminal activities and the encounter you had last night. I advise you to cooperate with us along the way, if you do then we can work to lighten your sentencing.

Before we begin I will inform you about my quirk, Lie Detector. I can tell when a person I am talking to is lying. This works for both yes and no questions along with general statements. I can detect half truths, though it is more difficult. I am informing you about this because in order to use my quirk effectively the subject must know both about my quirk and my intent to use it. Do you understand?”

There was a simple nod in response which Tsukauchi could tell was truthful, good.

“First what is your name, age and quirk. Please answer each question clearly for the sake of convenience.”

“My name is Idomo Nazki. I am 28 years old and have the quirk “Open and Close”, in essence I can move unlocked doors open and close or anywhere inbetween.”

“Good, now to the meat of our meeting. You are accused of participation in the organized creation and distribution of illegal quirk enhancement drugs. We have video evidence of this and merely wish to understand the exact extent to which you and others were participating. As it is we must presume you are all equal partners and thus all deserve the maximum sentencing.”

The man went on to describe the entire operation down to the process. He threw every single one of the other criminals under the bus, claiming that he was simply the hired muscle. It would have been to convenient if it weren’t for Tsukauchi knowing he was telling the whole truth. Except he knew when there was a lie by omission as well.

“You’re not telling me something. I presume that you have a boss that you refuse to tell me about.”

The criminal looked at him in shock, mouth opening and closing but not making any sounds. Opting for the best strategy he could think of the thug made his comment, “I’m not telling you who he is.”

“Really, and why is that?”

“You can only send me to jail, but he can do so much worse.” Dam it, that was a truth. Looked like he was going to need to get creative with his quirk use. Taking a deep breathe he prepared himself, this is what had gotten him this far.

“I will learn the name of your boss, even if it takes a while. I will ask you if the first letter of what you call your boss is “A” for example, you will tell me either yes or no and I will know if you are lying. If you choose not to answer that will mean that you are answering in the negative and as a result I will eventually find out his name. This outcome is inevitable so I would advise for you to simply tell me his name right now. It will be easier for all of us.

Relenting the man told them of his boss's name, also including the fact that he didn’t know anything else about the operation. Both were truths. All in all the interrogation had gone much better than Tsukauchi would have expected. Normally someone would hold out for the first few letters to be figured out, wasting hours of time.Grateful that this line of questioning was over with Tsukauchi knew it was time to start on the next piece of business.

“We are also investigating what we are calling Batman, the vigilante that injured you. Do you have any information on the man.”

The man’s eyes dilated in fear, his breathing became shorter. This wasn’t good.

“I-I’ll tell you this. Whatever that was, it wasn’t a man. I-I asked it what it was and it answered without words, VENGEANCE.”

The man completely shut down at this point. Tsukauchi didn’t have any useful yes or no questions for the man, so he had the criminal taken back to the holding cells. Looking over the case file he saw that there was one good thing that had come out of this. Calling the task force together he told them to review their files and automatically eliminate anyone that was on duty and accounted for last night. They knew the timeframe of the Bat’s activity and could use that to their advantage. Slowly they would clear their own ranks of suspicion and then the real hunt would be on.

* * *

Izuku sat waiting at an indoor rock climbing facility waiting for the rest of his party to arrive. It irked him at just how good Yaoyorozu was at getting the things she wanted done. He had called her to set up a simple cafe meetup to contact Uraraka for Hatsume and maybe meet a few of Yaoyorozu’s other friends. But his friend had other ideas. She had said the only way two of the people were joining them was if exercise was included since their hero lives required them to be sleeping, working or training at almost all hours of the week. She had said the best compromise would be to do some rock climbing since it was an activity where pairs could get to know each other and build trust. The perfect friendship building experience. It was only when Izuku realized he would have to show off his muscles that he regretted agreeing to the location.

Plus the place wasn’t even a good one. It smelled even sweatier than a teen basketball team's locker room, though it did help mask the sewer musk that had clung to him. Looking at his watch he saw that everyone was now three minutes late. If they didn’t show up within five minutes he would just leave. Four minutes came and went, only for the entire group to show up already tired. 

Yaoyorozu explained, “We had all gotten on the same train from the incident location last night, and it kind of got delayed by being derailed.” 

Uraraka continued in her over expressive manner, “ Yeah, what surprised me was that a villain wasn’t at fault. One of the turn signals got messed up and the train just didn’t turn left or right. No one was hurt, but it was freaky.”

Not knowing how to respond to that, Izuku took a gander at the other two people Yaoyorozu had brought with her. One was a red eyed and red haired guy. Izuku remembered that he was the hero Red Riot but not much else. From his looks he was a tough dude, but otherwise happy and optimistic. His teeth were like those of sharks, giving him a sweet yet vicious look.

Initially Izuku didn’t recognize the other guy. With a brown wig and makeup over his left eye it was hard to recognize Todoroki. It was pretty easy to guess why he was wearing the get up. As the current number five hero if he didn’t constant crowd of fans and media would follow him, despite his curt rebukes of the advances of both groups. The thing that had given Todoroki away was the missing pinky finger. It was an unfortunate price the guy had payed when facing the Hero Killer.

“Midoryia, you’ve already met Uraraka, so let me introduce you to Kirishima and Todoroki. Though I guess you two have already met as well.”

Kirishima gave a happy wave as Todoroki interjected himself.

“It was a long time ago, so fresh introductions are useful. 

Realizing a problem with the current set up, Izuku spoke up carefully inserting an undertone of expecting horror to his sentence, “ Yaoyorozu, y-you said we would all be taking turns as pair, but there are an odd number of people. What’s happening?”

“Well, I need to get going, so you four can figure it out. Bye” Creating a jet pack, Yaoyorozu literally rocketed off.

Uraraka broke the following silence with a fist bump, yelling “Let’s do this!”

Kirishima concurred, “Yeah, rock climbing. If this place is any good I’ll need to show it to Bakugou.”

“Wait! If we’re all going to be friends in there we should use our first names!” Urarakas innocent smile blinded all surrounding patrons, the owners yelled at her stop using her quirk or they would call the police, not knowing that her actual quirk was anti-gravity.

Izuku was understandably flusteres, “W-wha-t. I don’t even do that with Yaoyorozu and we’ve know each other for years!”

“Exactly, if we're going to become friends with you like Yaoyorozu we need to call each other by first names.” 

Izuku was confused by her logic, as was Kirishima and Todoroki, but the three of them went along with Urar- no Ochako’s plan. She had given off a vibe of determination that scared even Izuku. 

The four went into their respective changing rooms but when they came out, Izuku couldn’t help but notice the large number of eyes that were on him. They were staring at him like he was some foreign creature that shouldn’t exist. Maybe a unicorn, the problem was that in the world of quirks those existed. Kirishima was the first to speak up.

“Dude, you're so manly. I didn’t expect a rich dude to be that ripped.”

Giving himself a slight blush, Izuku answered, “Thanks, Alfred has always encouraged me to stay in shape, so here I am.”

Ochako was having no shame as she ogled his body, though when Shouto tapped on her shoulder to get her attention she became immensely flustered. “Sorry, sorry. It’s just you have really nice calves.” Ochako immediately covered her mouth and nearly fainted at the realisation at what she just said.

Izuku stood there, stunned. The one thing he had never been able to train his response to was a genuine compliment. When those happened he was reduced to his old clumsy bumbling self no matter what he wanted to act like. It was one of his great flaws. 

Kirishima, looking for a solution to change the subject decided embarrassing Ochako was the best idea. In a voice that used the most teasing voice in the world Kirishima made his point.

“Don’t worry Ochako, Todoroki and I already know about your weakness for calves. Isn’t that why you dated Bakugou.”

“SHUT UP. That was for like two months and we all agreed we would never speak of that again. Worst decision of my life, guy as the romantic sense of a volcano.”

Todoroki decided to get the group moving, it wouldn’t due to waste the money they had put into the trip.

“With the icebreakers out of the way, let's get to climbing. I’ll partner up with Midoriya first, we wouldn’t want Uraraka to drop him while appreciating his calves.

“Hey. Also we are using first names, remember Shouto.” Her puppy dog eyes almost broke the will of the ice user, almost.

“No. Let's go Midoriya, we’ll switch up partners in half an hour.”

“O-okay.” Izuku was just glad to be rid of that awkward situation, silently he thanked Kirishima for the intervention. If Ochako had kept on with the compliments he would have fainted.

The two boys went on to one side of the building and started to climb. Izuku feigning a lack of skill while Todoroki was belaying him. Half way up to the top, Todoroki suddenly turned their conversation away from the meaningless daily activities to something else.

“Midoriya”

“Yeah.”

“Thank you.”

“Wait what, where is this coming from.”  
“I want to thank you for helping me reevaluate my plan on how I was going to become a hero. If it weren’t for you I would be avoiding my fire. I haven’t had a chance to thank you since I realized it, so Thank You.”

Izuku looked behind him to see Todoroki bowing a complete ninety degrees. Surprised by the action, Izuku slipped and started to fall.

“Todoroki!”

“Yes?”

“Ice NOW!”

Looking up, Todoroki saw the issue and immediately created an ice slide, barely saving Izuku from multiple broken bones. The chilly slide was a welcome addition to the room in Izuku's opinion as it provided some much needed cold air.

Izuku looked up at him, “And here you were worried about Ochako dropping me.”

The two shared a small laugh before continuing with climbing. Over the next hour and a half, Izuku got to know the three others pretty well. He knew about Todoroki’s addiction to chewing on ice cubes, “the real problem is that I can make them whenever I want, enabling myself at all times”. As well as Kirishima’s desire to climb Mt. Fuji while carrying two elderly people who couldn't do it on their own, “This way I’m extra manly. I’m helping others, getting a great workout and visiting Mt. Fuji all at the same time.” And of course about Ochako’s short relationship with Bakugou. It heartened Izuku that despite all of the changes in the world, Bakugou still was a rude guy with a slight superiority complex, though apparently he had toned down both those aspects a bit.

At one in the afternoon the four exchanged numbers and separated. All in all, Izuku called it a successful day. Going back to the Tower, he went to sleep, wanting his nighttime activities to go just as smoothly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wooohh. I had a great time writing this chapter, mixing together Izukus day life and nightlife and figuring out the balance is so much fun. 
> 
> TO the BATCAVE. PLUS ULTRA!! *derp*(these end notes always feel derp to me)


	3. Tea Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait between chapters, but I assure you it will not happen again.

Waking up from his nap, Izuku took the express elevator from his room directly to the Cave. The system was a secret one that required a san of his retinas from one of the many marble heads that littered his room. From there he had five seconds to rush into position, a weight sensor double checked his identity and activated the elevator. He sped down the on down the one hundred and ten floors of the building until he reached the cave. Alfred was already there, waiting with his equipment ready.

“Here you go Master Izuku. In the future please refrain from swimming in the sewers, it took me three hours just to wash the torso.”

“Sorry Alfred but no promises. Prepare the launch.”

“As you wish.”

 

Izuku snapped on each of piece of his equipment, ensuring all of the straps and buckles were prepared. Tonight there was probably going to be a major fight if the previous night's activities were any indication. Izuku picked up Hatsume’s prototype cuffs next, she had said they would break a normal human's bones, but maybe that same toughness could be used to capture the superpowered crock. Izuku couldn’t figure out one thing about the situation, for whatever reason Jones was kept sedated for a large part of his life, yet was able to seemingly fight freely at other times. It just didn’t sit right with him. What was the explanation? Not having any other information he decided to leave it be as the more pressing issue of a potential attack needed to be focused on.

With the attack from last night, there were two primary options for what this Mad Hatter would do tonight. Either he would lay low and prepare for another attack using the data from the previous event. Or another attack would happen tonight. He needed to prevent any future attack as soon as possible.

The launcher was prepared and Batman started gliding through the sky.The tracker was sending him to eastern Tokyo. Specifically an area with plenty of run down apartments that none the less were in use. Since the decline of society, these areas were becoming more and more common, unfortunately. With the stench of death and piss intermingled if you lived her it was safe to say that you were a part of the lower class of society. In these parts, Heroes did not patrol nearly as much for multiple reasons, some selfish and others less so. The biggest reason was that any random citizen could be interested in collecting the bounty that appeared on any major heroes head as soon as they showed up. This had caused multiple deaths already and no one wanted to be the victim of the very people they were trying to save. The other reason was that most busts that could be made were low-level ones of small-time crimes. There was nothing to help a hero make it big. While there were still a few idealists that popped up and helped, they were too few and far between to make a large difference.

Settling on a broken street lamp across from where the trackers signal was, Batman went through the process of cataloging the location. You could tell a lot about a person just from their chosen place of residence and this place was no exception. It was a hat shop that from the look of the window displays, provided a large variety of potential hats, ranging from fedoras to chicken heads.A faint light could be seen illuminating the back of the store as well. This indicated that the owner, presumably the Mad Hatter had some fascination with hats to a degree that his name just didn’t give justice to. The other telling factor was that the window displays could even be seen. Normally in these neighborhoods, a shop without metal covering at night was a robbed shop, but that wasn’t the case here. Either the owner had a reputation that prevented theft, or they left the door unlocked and didn’t worry about there money. Due to the fear, the man he had interrogated had felt it was likely to be the former reason.

Wanting to know more about what was inside, Batman threw a remote control Batarang into an air duct that directly connected to the inside.The device had an attached camera allowing for easy aerial recon. The front room was empty except for mannequins being used to display the Hats. The store was messy at every turn except the hats. They were kept in pristine condition with not a single stitch out of place from what he could tell. Sending the camera to the lit up room, he could that a television was on, playing footage from the attack yesterday. Yet the center of the glow came not from that, but instead from the ground. A clear square of blue light could be made out. A single pipe for air was next to it, unfortunately, to small for even a Batarang. Done with the survey, Batman slunk into the building, bypassing the limited security system with ease and making his way directly to the trap door. It used a simple key lock that was easily picked. Sliding down the subsequent ladder down noisily, he made his way into the hidden basement. 

Quickly stowing himself behind the main table of the room, Batman gathered what information he could about the scene before him, wanting to be prepared for the potential fight ahead. A brown haired man was sitting on a stool sewing a hat. He wore a green top hat that was obviously inspired by Alice in Wonderland. His body was facing three chairs that held various individuals, two were wearing hats and all looking half asleep. They had not noticed him so it was unlikely they were conscious, good. One was the Crocodile and the other two both looked to have mutation quirks, one looking like a rabbit and the other having every physical characteristic of a caterpillar, right down to the segmented body. It was only after a full minute of inspecting the caterpillar-like man that he realized the individual only looked that way due to being wrapped up in a sleeping bag. Regardless the fixation on the novel by Lewis Carroll was obvious.

“ Only a few more minutes and you to will get your own precious hat. I apologize for the waste of time, but these things do take awhile.”

Awakening from his stupor, the man looked at his surroundings, Izuku felt certain that the man had seen him, yet he just let his gaze wander past him, before locking onto the Hatter. In a deadpan tone that surprised Izuku, the man started trying to pry information from the villain.

“Why am I here?” The man seemed to be completely unfazed by the situation he found himself in.

“Oh, you're awake, good. I always like to see a persons reaction when they get to where one of my hats for the first time. As to why you're here, it's to help me prepare my Tea Party to remember? At this point, we’re only missing two participants and you will help me get the cat. Cats like to eat caterpillars right?”

Although he was confused by the conversation taking place, Izuku knew that there was a chance the situation could get worse if he didn’t intervene. In one fluid motion he flipped over the table he was hiding behind and released a flashbang. Using the table as cover from the light he knew those on the other side would have difficulty knowing what was going on. Rolling up behind the Hatter he knocked the half-finished hat away and pinned the man to the ground.Taking out his extra pair of handcuffs, Batman restrained the villain. Now confident that the diminutive man was out of operation, he looked at the three restrained individuals waiting for a response. But none came. The two hat wearers simply sat unresponsive to the situation, while the man in a sleeping bag observed him intently, despite the partial blindness.

However that changed when the Mad Hatter regained his senses., “MINIONS, capture the person who has so rudely interrupted our Tea Party preparations.” His two hat wearers broke free from their seats in an instant, each grabbing hold of one of his arms, preventing him from moving in any direction. The crocodile used his claws to break the Hatters handcuffs with ease.

Giggling at the site of the restrained Batman, the Mad Hatter began to speak, “Lookey here, I caught a bat, what fun. You can be a part of my party to now.” He took a long sigh, “Unfortunately I don’t have time to make a custom hat for you, so I'll just have to resort to one of the stock models, let me take off that pesky cowl first. No one looks good in a hood.” However, when he began to touch it, a violent electrical current passed through, making the criminal take a few steps back. “That's sad, I guess you’ll just have to be, convinced with some tea.”

With a maniacal smile, the Hatter went to his lab station, looking for his equipment. Thinking quickly, Izuku knew that he needed to escape from these guys with a plan. He had a way to get out of their grip but in the limited space and with the two possessing quirks that ensured both their strength and mobility he needed to neutralize them at the moment that he escaped. Fortunately one of the answers that he had been seeking had just clicked. The villain seemed to be confident in his thoughts that both the caterpillar man and Batman would join him once wearing one of his hats. That combined with the vacant eyes that the crocodile and rabbit men possessed led him to the rather straightforward conclusion. This man had the ability to make those who wore his hats follow his every command, to brainwash them.

The Hatter returned and started to monologue, why he was doing it Izuku didn’t know, but as the man explained what he was doing, Izuku couldn’t help but suppress a grin. The Hatter would be in for a big tea time surprise.

“Hello, there my friend, or at least my future friend. Just so that you know why you're going to love me in a second let me explain to you the tea that I am about to give you via injection. I know that it’s not the most pleasant way to drink it, but I don’t really have another choice.

This tea will help you realize your true power. It will turn the power of your quirk up by multiple levels, and in the process, your system will be flooded with so much power that you will only crave more. Since I am the only one who can get you this tea, you will obviously want to join me for my tea party.”

The man then took his syringe and shoved right into Izukus arm vein, where his armor was weakest. The man looked at him expectantly almost immediately, and Izuku realized escaping would be even easier than he thought. Letting the rest of his senses take over, Batman rolled his eyes back, similar to what the two mutant quirk users had been doing earlier, and waited. He could feel the grin widening on his captors face.

“Let him go boys, he’ll be on our side any moment now.”

In the middle of the grips being loosened, Batman took the opportunity to rocket upwards. He used his boots air launchers to spring above the heads of both man-beasts. Using two Batarangs he knocked off the hats of both, pulling them out of their brainwashed state immediately. They passed out, right on top of the Mad Hatter who was looking up in utter shock.

“NONONONONONONO, that tea was PERFECT. You're supposed to like me now!... If you don’t free me we are all going to be late for the tea party! How dare you turn on me.” Soon the man was reduced to a sputtering mess. 

Batman looked at the only person who had remained uninvolved and spoke quickly and efficiently, “Sir, the police are on their way. I will restrain the culprits and leave you be for the police to return. Please inform them that this man has a quirk that allows him to control those that wear a hat that he produces and that there might be more to it than that. Additionally, the crocodile man there is the presumed dead, former U.A. student Kodairu Jones. He will need intense therapy and medical rehabilitation due to the forced ingestion of QGH’s.”

The man called out to him, “Aren’t you going to release me?”

Batman continued on without response. It was only 10 pm and if he hurried he could intervene in a few more incidents before the night was over. Really the incident had gone by quickly, only a single hitch had held him up. With the amount of damage the man had caused and the size of the network he had been using, Batman had expected at least twelve more people to be in his way. Exiting the building Izuku noticed something that sent shivers up his spine. All around him there were hundreds of people wearing hats of all shapes and sizes approaching the small corner shop. Trash cans had been placed along the road to act as makeshift barriers, making it so when the police did arrive there would be a long wait for them to get into the shop.

In hindsight he should have expected this, a man that could control anyone that wore a hat he had made. A man that owned a hat store, why wouldn’t he have a large number of people owning one of his hats, it only made sense. All of the people were walking quickly towards him and the entrance of the building. If they got downstairs they could free the Hatter, and return the three others to his control. Plus there was the man still tied up who had no chance of escaping.

In order to buy himself some time, Izuku threw a sleeping gas pellet into the crowd. He normally didn’t use them due to the trackable chemical composition, but this was a definite exception. Turning around he grabbed all of the hats and locked them in a separate room, not wanting the number of hostiles to grow. 

Rushing down, Izuku found the Mad Hatter laughing again, “Hahahaha, you may have delayed it, but tea time is cominnng!” Batman took a long look at the mastermind behind the death of many before punching him in the head, knocking out the villain. He hoped that this would stop the mind control, but from the sounds upstairs the mob was still working on breaking into the store.

He looked at the still restrained man and decided that if they were going to get out of this on the winning side he would need as much help as he could get.

“Sir, do you have the ability to fight?”

“Yes, now free me, from the noise above and your return I guess we’re in for a fight.”

Taking out a Batarang to free the man, Batman looked at him and finally recognized the man. He was the retired Pro Hero Eraserhead. After multiple injuries during various villain raids and a mental health issue stemming from the repeated injury of those under his care, the man had voluntarily retired, stating that he was no longer fit to serve the people. It was no wonder that the man wasn’t impressed by the situation, he probably had dealt with worse at one time or another.

“Have you tried using your quirk on the Hatter, it could disrupt the mind control.”

“Already tried, nothing happened. I’ll try it on the controlled people but I doubt it will work.” The ex-hero replied smoothly, but Batman could tell that the man was semi-surprised that he was able to recognize the former underground hero. His face was a rare sight, and knowledge of his quirk was even harder to come by. Izuku was happy to let the erasure-quirk user wonder at the source of his knowledge. He would probably never guess that Yaoyorozu had told so many stories about her former teacher to Izuku that it felt like the man had taught him a few things as well.

The duo made their way above ground, Batman has made the call for Hero reinforcements since the police had as of yet not arrived. The two peaked out of the room with the trap door to see a few of the controlled milling about the store. Apparently, they knew to come here but not where the trap door was. Batman signaled for Aizawa to follow him, receiving a small nod in reply. He probably thought that Izuku was an underground hero similar to what he was. All of the evidence did point that way until someone checked the database.

From his belt, Batman pulled out a number of reinforced zip ties meant for the capturing of those with quirks. Handing ten of them two Aizawa, Izuku signaled for them to flank those in the building and subdue them. Using that group as bait to draw the rest in and knock off their hats one at a time. The former pro responded by moving into position.

When they were ready, Aizawa used his quirk to suppress those that they were fighting, making it child's play for the two highly skilled fighters to capture the group. They subsequently called out the brainwashed that were outside. Slowly, the people filtered into the room, intending to free their comrades. However thanks to a number of throws Batarangs, mannequin parts, punches and one potted plant, each Hat was knocked off, resulting in a line of unconscious bodies both in and outside the store. Izuku could hear the sirens blaring at this point, and the screeching of the trash cans being moved. Without a word he took off into the night sky, leaving the professionals to clean up the mess. There were still more civilians to save and criminals to strike fear into.

“Base Cave, locate the nearest slums to my current location besides the one I’m already in.”

“The next one is fourteen miles to your northeast, Master Batman.”

“Thanks”

Batman flew through the air soundlessly, even the fluttering of his cape made indistinct from the ground due to sheer distance. His arms felt raw after the encounter with the crocodile, the mind-washed man did not have a good sense for how much pressure was enough to restrain him, and thus had caused a bit of crushing in his gauntlets. This had resulted in the destruction of one of his grappling hook which probably wouldn’t be too big of an issue if he didn’t know that Hatsume would give him an earful when he returned.

There were a few attempted assaults and muggings that he was able to catch, and checking the time he decided it was time to head back. However, in one last sweep of the region, he noticed there was smoke in the sky. Then from a light amount of smoke, an inferno erupted. Three buildings were engulfed in flames and no heroes were nearby. Cries asking for help could be heard, but the neighbors simply started to run away, attempting to escape before their homes were consumed by the flames. The people in the burning buildings wouldn’t have a chance unless someone intervened, so that's what Batman did. Normally he refrained from dealing with burning buildings as Firefighters were normally in charge of that, but he wasn’t going to risk a person's life based on that. Using a multitude of sensors systems he triangulated the locations of three different people trapped in the building. One was on the top floor with no stairway down. Another was at a window trying to figure out a way down, and the last person was trapped underneath some rubble on the third floor.

Wrapping himself in his fire-resistant cape, Batman dropped from the sky. He crashed right through the weakened roof of the building right in front of a panicking person. He grabbed the person and put on his oxygen mask at the same time, moving to the window to help their escape. The window he chose had the other trapped person below them, helping to set him up for a double rescue. Releasing the cable of his broken grappling hook, Batman tied himself to one end and tied the other person to the end. 

“I am going to lower you down slowly to the ground when you pass the other trapped person tell them to grab on ten seconds after you get out of their way.”

The man gave a cough and a nod in response, getting on the outside of the building with little hesitation. The tension on the cable appeared soon after that and Batman used his other grappling hook to help tether himself down. The heat was starting to make him sweat, and he didn’t want to faint mid-rescue, letting those in his charge fall down. Fortunately, the rescue went off without a hitch, the hero culture really did make it easier to help people. Batman jumped off the side of the building, using the still inserted grappling hook to swing himself into the third floor. Now in the middle of the flames, the heat was oppressing. Running towards the center of the now collapsing building, the vigilante looked for the trapped man. When he found the place previously detected he could see that the person had somehow enabled there own escape. On his way back out, he saw the individual limping towards the window, just in time to catch a falling piece of lumber. The person noticed him and became supremely startled once they realized that he was holding a pillar that looked and felt like it weighed half a ton. Batman motioned for the person to get back, which they did slowly due to the limp. Dropping the beam, Izuku could feel his muscles straining, he wasn’t going to be able to do much more holding up of building support structures.

Using his body as crunch, Batman helped the limping man down to the second floor, pushing the few small barriers out of the way. As he approached the last flight of stairs, a cool breeze blew through the room, and at that moment Batman knew it was time to retreat. The fire ceased a moment later with ice covering the floor, frost molding around their feet to indicate their presence. There were very few people with the power to frost over a burning building and the only one in Tokyo was the hero Winter Burn, otherwise known as Todoroki Shouto. Setting the man he had been helping on the floor, Batman made a run for the window opposite the street. Using the now recharged air compressed boots he leaped out of the window and escaped into the night sky before the Hero could notice his presence. It was time to return to the Bat Cave.   
He didn’t notice the Heterochromatic eyes seeing the flight of the vigilante, wondering what the man's rush was.

\---

The police were in a slight state of chaos, the sudden introduction of over a hundred people to be processed after they were already overcrowded from the previous night, in addition to having an entire shop to be processed as a crime scene had all caused a need for all hands on deck. Even the Commissioner was helping out with the processing at this point. Each person needed to be interviewed, cleared of suspicion and provided medical attention should it be needed.

Tsukauchi, however, had his own mission during this. There were two primary witnesses to the events of the night, one being a long wanted criminal and the other being a retired hero. He had called for Aizawa to be interviewed first so that he could try and get a sense of what happened.

“Okay Aizawa just as a reminder my quirk allows me to detect when you are telling a lie, you are aware of that it entails, correct?”

“Yes.”

“Good to start off can you please tell me how you ended up captured by the Mad Hatter.”

“I was sleeping on a park bench, and then I woke up restrained in the basement. I don’t know anything beyond that.”

“So you just decided sleeping on a bench was a good idea?”

“There was a cat.”

Not knowing how to respond to that slightly absurd statement, Tsukaguchi moves on to his next question, “What happened when you woke up?”

“I looked around and saw the other two restrained individuals, the Mad Hatter and someone seemingly hiding in the back of the basement. I presumed that it was likely an ally. Acting on that assumption I attempted to gather information from my captor. During this process, the individual that I had noticed threw what I presume was a flashbang and acted to capture the Mad Hatter. While initially being successful, the subsequent actions of the mind-controlled caused the reverse capture of the person. It was at this point that I got a good look at him. They wore a costume that gave the resemblance of a bat, with a cape to simulate wings. The Hatter then took a quirk enhancing serum that he said would cause this person to lose control of themselves. When injected there was the appearance of this working, causing the Mad Hatter to free him. At this point, the bat person sprung into the air and knocked off the hats of the others and truly captured the Hatter. After this, we were forced to fight off the hat wearing individuals and the man left before the officers arrived. Leaving at the instant I closed my eyes. Additionally, the individual knew who I was.

During the entire encounter, the Mad Hatter continuously spoke of a tea party and threatened the future attempt to capture two other people including a person who was supposed to look like a cat.”

 

“Understood. Can you tell me anything more about your rescuer.”

“Ah, so he’s a vigilante. Makes sense why he didn’t stick around now.” Evidently, the shock that Tsukauchi felt was apparent on his face. “Don’t look surprised, it’s obvious when you ask that question that he isn’t a pro-hero and thus his actions in attempting to help are those of a vigilante. I also assume that he's an important one if you're in charge of the search.

As for your question, the only thing I can add is that whoever they are, the vigilante is highly skilled and must have been trained in fighting.”

“So there was no indication of quirk use?”

“The jumps he made gave the appearance of being quirk assisted, but otherwise there was no discernable quirk.”

“Thank you, Aizawa, if you think of anything else you know how to contact me.”

“Actually I was going to ask if you needed any help.”

Tsukauchi did a double take, “What?”

In the same dry and tired expression, Aizawa continued, “Obviously this man has some non-mutant quirk that is allowing him to be so effective, along with the fighting skills I observed an average officer won’t be able to catch him. Hell, an entire SWAT team probably couldn’t. I also know that as it is you can’t pull aside any official heroes, so I’m volunteering. I’ve been itching to do something and I still do have my license.” Aizawa looked expectantly at him, already knowing that his offer was too good to refuse.

However, the Chief Inspector's initial reaction was the opposite. He couldn’t drag the man out of his retirement just for this. Sure he was only forty and by no means weak, and he could very well be helpful in the apprehension of the vigilante. But, nonetheless, Aizawa wasn’t officially a hero anymore. He had his license but wouldn’t be getting any pay. After mulling it over, Tsukauchi realized that unfortunately, he didn’t have the luxury of being able to choose.

“Fine, I'll brief you tomorrow evening once you’ve gotten a decent rest.”

Leaving the former pro hero to finish with the debrief of the night, Tsukauchi went back to his desk to find a mountain of folders, personnel files and a sticky note acting as a cherry on top.

**This is the current set of cleared members of the force, each has the reasoning as to why they were dismissed on top, with their file attached. You’ll need to get rid of the duplicates but from what I saw it should be pretty easy. Also, I flagged a few officers that I think could be helpful.  
-Officer Sansa**

Looking through the files there were about half of the officers under his command that were now marked as not a potential suspect. The reasoning behind which fell into three broad categories. First, they had some physical characteristic that precluded them from fitting the profiles. This includes being elderly or just not being in good enough shape to demonstrate the vigilantes' feats, and having a mutant quirk that in some way prevented the individual from looking like a bat. Another factor was the officer's schedule or alibi. If they were accounted for by reliable sources such as being on duty or a camera was on them during the time of activity if the bat they were easily cleared. The final reasoning was that their personality in some way convinced the officers that they would not be a good suspect. Setting the last section into a separate pile to be reviewed later, the last few papers were the officers Sansa had flagged. Out of them, the only one that stood out was Officer Shinsou.

Sansa had crossed him out since he had a hero license and thus had no reason to go galavanting through the night pretending to be a vigilante. With the ability to use his quirk freely and his strong investigation skills, he could be a strong asset to the team. However, his attitude was an unknown to Tsukauchi. Usually, the senior officers dealt with him, and if Tsukauchi was going to put more officers on the case at this early stage he wanted to to be able to trust them fully.

Wanting to get the man working as soon as possible the Chief Commissioner sent an email over to get him headed to his desk. While he wasn’t scheduled to be in right now Tsukauchi had heard the stories of him staying at the precinct or at least on duty for days at a time. Within minutes the purple haired man was sitting down in his office, tired eyes with curiosity lurking just beneath the surface.

“Sir, you requested to see me.”

“Yes. I nothing that we say to one another to leave this room..” Not knowing how else to broach the subject, Tsukauchi went straight for the jugular of information. “Officer Shinsou I called you here because Officer Sansa recommended you for the anti-vigilante task force. There is a new vigilante that has been acting against criminals and we are trying to bring him in before it becomes a big deal. Before I formally invite you to the task force I want to understand your mindset towards vigilantes. Please tell the whole truth as I have my quirk ready to go.”

Once Shinsou understood what was happening, Tsukauchi could feel his quirk starting to work its magic in the back of his mind, ever present but now ready to give him the slight tickle that showed a person was lying.

“Nothing you say will leave this room but I do need your honesty.”

Shinsou was slightly taken aback by the way the conversation had gone. He had come in thinking that he was either going to get a reprimand or a promotion stemming from him overworking himself.Yes he knew that he was doing more than he should, but he couldn't help it. Since he wasn’t aiming to be a top Pro-Hero anymore he needed to make the most of being a police officer. As such being a part of this task force could be an invaluable stepping stone, getting him on the good side of the higher ranking officers. But.

“Sorry but you're wasting your time. I never understood the laws against vigilantes, especially the ones who don’t kill people. If we were ever in a situation to catch the guy I can’t say for certain what I would do. Sir” With the sir being an obvious afterthought the room fell silent. 

The almost accusatory glare Tsukauchi was sending him prompted Shinsou to explain himself further. He didn’t want to be fired over this after all.

“Don’t get me wrong, I understand why the law can’t condone vigilantes, and I would never try to interfere with the investigation. But some part of can’t help but wonder if that might have been me in another world. In a place where the value of my quirk wasn’t recognized, but I still wanted to be a hero. The desire to become a hero is what got me through life, and if someone had a poor quirk but still wanted to help people as a hero, well I couldn’t find it me to try and stop them.”

“If they want to help people a person can become a first responder. That's what you did.”

“HAHA. Sir don’t give me that BS. That’s what you tell a quirkless kid and they are not the same. Maybe you never experienced this but the desire to become a hero to help people is overpowering. A hero is basically the only people that actually go after criminals, the only ones to respond during an attack instead of after. And I chose to be an officer not because I couldn’t become a hero, but because I became one and realized that I would help more people as an officer.” He took a breath from his rant before continuing. “I don’t expect you to understand but know that for those of us who have “poor quirks for being heroes” or are quirkless, the only way to become a hero can be to become a vigilante.

Taking a second to process what had been said to him, Tsukauchi considered the situation.

“Understood Officer Shinsou, you are dismissed.”

Well, that was unfortunate, having to people with hero licenses on their team would have been invaluable. But it can’t be helped. Next up was to check the report for the latest fire, the fire department had determined it was a case of arson, but that wasn’t what caught his attention. No, apparently Winterburn had seen a caped figure flying from the scene after rescuing some civilians. The vigilante normally didn’t get involved with fires, what was different this time. Getting a cup of coffee to fuel himself the former detective got straight to work. Slowly others trickled into the office as the sun's rays brought relief to the night.

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to the story of 
> 
> NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA BATZUKU!!!!
> 
> Comments are appreciated. Have a great week everyone!


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